Overview
Our sharpening service will provide a good serviceable edge on the blade. The result is typically “very sharp” with a small secondary bevel and a bit of an “apple seed” profile. The resulting edge is somewhat dependent on the particular blade. Some blades will take and hold sharper edges than others and the thickness of the blade will determine how wide the bevel will need to be. We adjust the angle of the edge to suit the specific blade and attempt to get as close to a bevel-less edge as possible without marring the surface of the blade.
The Sharpening Process
The sharpening service is done with a belt sander. The process involves many passes with sanding belts of various grits. The blades are rested between passes to prevent them from becoming hot and damaging their temper. By default we will sharpen as much of the blade as possible including any false edges if appropriate. If you have a different preference, feel free to make that request in the special instructions at check out. We can sharpen only the last half or third of an edge, for example. Our sword sharpening expert has personally sharpened several thousand swords at this point, so will provide you with a professional service.
What the Service is Not
The resulting edge will be “sword sharp” not razor sharp. Our goal is to provide you with a usable edge for cutting practice that will hold up to some use and not require constant re-sharpening. In other words, we intend to provide you with a serviceable weapon, not a personal grooming implement. The service will not provide a completely bevel-less edge. To create that type of edge will necessarily scratch up the blade surface and we lack the machinery and time to provide a full re-polishing of a blade’s surface. A service of that nature would be significantly more expensive as a great deal more time would be required. We do not offer this type of service at this time.
Disclaimer
We make no guarantee that the resulting edge will meet with your expectations. Every blade is different and some will take and hold a sharper edge than others, due to the blade material, heat treatment or geometry. Some customers can also have incorrect assumptions about sword sharpness and improper expectations as a result. All we can say for sure is that the resulting edge will be sharper than the default edge, in most cases, significantly so. We can not provide any refunds for the service once it has been completed, so consider it to be provided “as is”. That being said, if you are unhappy with the product for any reason, we do still allow you to return the item for a full refund, including the sharpening costs under our normal return policy. This does not apply to special sharpening requests, for example if we sharpen something specially for you that does not normally list that option on our site. The vast majority of our customers are happy with the results of the service, so as long as you keep the above mentioned in mind, we are confident you will be pleased with the results as well.
Jacketch –
Darksword Crusader Dagger – Brown with Integrated Scabbard Frog – DSA1814BRS I recently purchased the Darksword Crusader Dagger with included scabbard. This item was obtained to go with my Albion 2Gen Knight XII sword and B. Bates scabbard. The blade, guard, handle and pommel match the sword fairly well if not exactly. The knife is well made with a half fullered blade (unsharpened on mine) that is well done if a little to well polished for me. A once over with a Scotchbrite pad and it now matches the satin finish of the sword blade. The straight guard is swelled in the center and they did a excellent job of finishing and fitting it. The reddish brown leather covering on the handle is plain as to be expected on a knife at this price point but it really looks good and works great for what it is. The pommel is the only part of the knife that is a bit disappointing due to the slightly lower lever of finish quality. No bad per se but not up to the rest of the knife. They did fortunately provide a milled recess in the pommel face that could be improved by the addition of a coin or medallion of correct size.
The scabbard is reasonably well made and matches the dagger style. It appears to be a wood or composite core covered in leather with a leather lace that suspends the dagger from the sword belt. The scabbard includes a chape and is constructed with a rain guard at the top. The only complaint is that the core is large enough inside that the blade anoyingly bumps inside when jiggled. Not a major fault but something that could be improved.
I’m pleased with the dagger partly due to the quality vs cost and partly due to how well it goes with my Albion Knight. I’d definitely buy it again.
Cody B. –
Excellent Dagger I love this dagger. It’s the nicest piece I own. Very good quality. Looks exactly like all of the pictures. Everything is fitted very well, and the finish is great. Very, very good dagger for the price.
no96 (verified owner) –
The construction on every part of this, blade, hilt, and scabbard, are all fantastic. The leather quality is amazing, the blade feels great in the hand, it’s a beautiful piece. If I were to complain about anything it’d just be two really small nitpicky things; the frog on one side has a tendency to twist a bit where it connects to the scabbard and that annoys me, and I tend to prefer blades and fittings that don’t have the degree of mirror polish that this one does (though that’s an easy fix and nothing that’s wrong with this, just a question of personal taste)
Thomas Przywara –
I haven’t had the opportunity yet to thoroughly test the construction of this dagger, but from basic testing, the sharpening from KoA is quite nice, and the dagger is very well constructed. It’s quite large, but well balanced in the hand, with a nice distal taper. Despite its wide blade, it’s thin and glides well in a thrust, and while short, cuts adequetly for the length. It’s well peened, quite neat and nearly flush, the guard is well secured and the blade maybe only a few degrees off from square to it. The grip wrap butts up well to the pommel and the guard. Overall, the dagger seems excellently constructed.
That said, four stars says something was wrong, even if its minor. The first is balance. The dagger itself is balanced excellently, but in the scabard, the loops/frog is just slightly too low. The point of balance is above the mounting point, so the dagger wants to flip upside down. Worn at the side or on the front this isn’t too big of an issue, but when sitting it can become a problem. I’ll probably rig up some straps that only use the top slit in the scabard to mount as that seems to be above the balance point. Nothing that can’t be worked around. The other problem was that mine came with quite a few spots of surface rust on the guard and pommel. Small spots, and all gotten rid of with some Simichrome polish, but they stood out quite starkly against the mirror polish. I think these spots likely developed in transit, as only parts not covered by the scabard had this, and the piece arrived dry, without any sort of protective grease or oil that I could detect. And, again, easily polished away and covered over with some oil to prevent any further rust, and, if you own anything with a mirror finish: swords, armour, nickeled firearms, silverware, jewellry, you should really have metal polish, anyway, but nonetheless, some preservative grease would have been appreciated.